7 Traits of Highly Effective Viral Videos

In the past few years, video has come a long way. As someone who once didn’t like online video, it’s now part of my daily life. In the past few years, videos have gotten much better and widespread that I’d find it hard to be stubborn in my old ways by ignoring all incoming multimedia streams. Today, video’s potential is obvious: it can be a marketer’s dream and yield tremendous successes. Indeed, I’ve discovered some incredible video that I can watch again and again. Here are seven video examples that have become viral phenomenons in their own right. Let’s take a look at what set these guys apart from their contenders.

Identifiable

Do something that other people can relate to. When Weezer came out with Pork and Beans in 2008, the band’s music video introduced a completely different concept with characters that were incredibly familiar. The Pork and Beans video enlisted in familiar faces across the YouTube culture. Because the video celebrities themselves were familiar to millions of spectators, the music video caught on virally. The original video, which is now private, had seen over 4 million views in its first four days, and was at over 20 million views until it was made private.

Highlight something that people are accustomed to. That’s why so many spoofs of David after Dentist actually saw hundreds of thousands of video views, and it’s also why Kanye West’s Taylor Swift Outburst brought Obama to shame (and people still watched it!).

Spontaneous

Jill Peterson and Kevin Heinz were just your average couple until they turned their wedding into something far more memorable. By engaging the wedding party and having them dance down the aisle spontaneously, people watching the resultant video really felt the momentum. They got excited. They laughed. Some even cried. It was a beautiful moment for Jill and Kevin, but it was also a beautiful moment for those of us watching the video from our home computers thousands of miles away.

Let’s take it a step further, though, with a “shocking” element. Videos that have a completely unplanned “wow” element to them definitely travel far in social circles. It’s more than just the JK Wedding Dance video, which was a heartwarming feel-good video with preparation. Taking the idea beyond the unexpected, these videos evoke some emotion because of sheer luck — or just the opposite.

Genuine

You don’t always have to engage in expensive video production to promote your wares, nor as the marketer do you have to create the video yourself. With over 1 billion video views on YouTube per day, if you have a great video that shows your passion for the product and the right audience comes along, you can find your video in the spotlight.

The video above is one of the first iPod touch commercials. Would you have known that it was created by an 18-year-old student in his spare time? Nick Haley created the video at home for fun and uploaded it to YouTube. Once online, it caught the attention of executives at Apple who flew him into California to make it a commercial reality.

Think you don’t have what it takes to be creative in-house? Why not ask your customers to try their hand at video production for you?

Funny

Don’t you like making people smile? Most people do. It goes without saying that funny videos are highly shareable and can yield that desired result. It’s why Yatta has been passed on in various iterations for years.

On a similar note, you can also show someone how something is done. One of my favorite viral videos of all time was one I first watched when I was in preschool but it stayed with me for a good twenty-some-odd years. Don’t you want to know how crayons are made? Taking someone into the office of your busy-at-work programmers or directly into your manufacturing plant to see the process of creation can be really fascinating from an outsider’s perspective.

Creative

Creative videos can become worldwide phenomenons, just like the Hibi no Neiro music video which scored it a YouTube award in Japan.

Inspiring

Want to watch a video that’s nothing like the above but motivates you to do your best? Inspiring videos, too, can be viral. Randy Pausch, a former lecturer at Carnegie Mellon, inspired not only students in his class but the world in his last ever speech before he passed away from pancreatic cancer.

There you have it: seven viral video characteristics that start the conversations and get the wheels turning. If you’re looking to craft a viral video, consider meeting at least one of these characteristics: identifiability, spontaneity, genuineness, humor, information, creativity, and inspiration. Ideally, if you cover ground on at least two of these traits, your video might have a good chance of success. To be sure, though, solicit feedback from a group of trusted peers not directly involved in your company or marketing objectives before going ahead with publishing the video, since you need an unbiased opinion. Do this before you upload it to YouTube; for a video to achieve viral status on YouTube, it needs to pick up steam as soon as it’s uploaded.

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Tamar Weinberg is a hustler and juggler. She's got like 14 things under her belt. Seriously. Yeah, like a boss.
Oh, and she's hunting for the perfect startup she can lead at and grow. Is that where you come in?

33 Comments

Fantastic analysis Tamar, I think virality of a video depends on a lot of things most of them you have mentioned above clearly but it also depends a lot on the luck and timing as well.
Thanks for sharing these videos.

Thanks for the shout out for SoapQueen.TV on this post. I appreciate it.

I agree with Akash that luck and timing definitely have something to do with a video going viral; how many of us have seen a great video that just didn’t seem to catch on but then sat through a multitude of “popular” videos only to wish we had that 5 minutes back?

Tim, great question but I think that there’s no perfect answer for this. It’s really mostly about chance, and like I mentioned earlier in the comments, luck and timing. It also depends on goals.

Susan Boyle’s video on YouTube didn’t make any money and when you refer to monetization, it’s hard to understand what you mean. Do you mean conversions? Ad clicks on videos? These are factors to consider.

@Tim, I think I have an answer for your question, from a viral eBook to a video the point of making such things is not earning money,From an individual point of view its about getting noticed for your work for example Steve Chazin who wrote the super viral e-book “5 secrets of the greatest marketing machine” which was free and did spread like crazy, he got no money for that but after work came to him he never went on the hunt for it.
From a firm’s point of view its about telling people that they create a lot more then there products…..
@Tamar, what do you say?

I think video (and photos) offer something that written articles don’t. You are pretty much forced to obey a rule of ‘viral': you can’t be abstract – you must be specific.

One really simple technique is to use other people’s videos and pics. Perhaps by making collections – like Tamar has done here

We also have to mention something that Tamar knows more about than most – whatever you’ve got, you really need to promote it. This might be via power players on social networks (eg, this story is moving on Sphinn) or even national TV (Susan Boyle’s video was a recording of a popular TV show).

All of these are great videos! My long-time favorite was the JK Wedding Entrance, it’s one of a kind, truly creative, inspiring and really fun to watch. I am trying my hand on making videos and this is really a timely article for me. Maybe, I’ll be able to make a video someday that will be viewed by millions. Well, just sayin’

I totally agree with your suggestions. There has to be some type of emotional reaction or sensation that occurs in the viewer in order to keep them engaged and do whatever call to action you are looking for. People filter digital junk-mail based on the sensations they get when they interact with it.
I think when producing video, we need to be a bit more discriminating in what we put out there. It is your intention that people respond to and base their choice on whether to suggest the piece or not. As Seth Godin says, “you can’t out Amazon, Amazon”. Once it is authentically your truth, people will respond.
Another great post.
Peace,
Jackie

Really loved the tips about how to make a video good! I work for a TV advertising agency, and we really make sure that each one of our clients have each aspect indicated above! We would love you to check out our website and see how we have created Viral Video Campaigns